1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of setting the configuration information of an information processing apparatus, and more particularly, to setting and modifying storage configuration information. The invention also relates to a storage device capable of setting such configuration information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information processing devices and the like in system environments continually become more complex, and various proposals have been presented to simplify the setting operations of such complex information processing devices. Setting the configuration information (for example, path definition, creation of logic volume, physical format, security information) of a storage device in an information processing system involves the risk of data loss due to an increase in the number of setting operations and in wrong settings made by supervisors, because the devices have become large and complex.
JP-A-5-128032 proposes, as a method of solving such problems, a technique for settings in a network environment, which can be set by end users of average skill. Another Japanese patent application, JP-A-6-175827, proposes a technique of automatically creating settings of a network environment in which a program is implemented on a computer, to eliminate the need for end users to make the difficult settings for an environment. Further, JP-A-11-161604 discloses a technique in which the settings for a network environment with connected clients are preserved as a script file in a server connected to the network and automatically downloaded for setting the environment.
Even with a Graphical User Interface (GUI), setting modifications can cause unexpected equipment trouble even with supervisors performing the setting operations. To prevent such unauthorized operation, JP-A-2000-181687 discloses a method in which system management information is preserved in two memories and errors are avoided by referring to one of the memories when an error occurs after system management information in the other memory is edited. JP-A-2000-181687 also discloses a method in which a password is required when setting information is edited. These methods ensure that system management information is safely preserved.
However, when the settings for the environment and structure of an information processing device are modified, operations in the modified environment are sometimes incompatible with those performed in the previous environment and structure. For example, when the structure of storage areas in a storage device is modified, concern arises that the operations may call for data being written into areas in positions essentially unsuitable for writing.
In particular, in structural modification, such as setting the storage areas of a storage device, the integrity of written data must also be guaranteed for subsequent structural modifications. Password management as disclosed in JP-A-2000-181687, in which it suffices to divide an environment to provide environments that users cannot use, cannot resolve this problem. Moreover, in order to avoid the risk of data loss or the like, confirmation of whether the script is composed of data created for setting modification and generating a command group must be guaranteed in the operation.
In cases where returning to a previous state is desired for some reason, and in situations in which device environments enlarge, for example, storage devices, errors allow past data to be released. With such occurrences, there is also a requirement to return to that environment/structure at a time when the data being released was accumulated.